1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a presser belt separating or mincing apparatus for separating material to be processed including a mixture of flowable and non-flowable constituents, in particular for separating sinews and/or tendons and cartilages from meat portions.
2. Prior Art
From published German Patent Application No. 2 159 465 there is known a presser belt separating apparatus comprising a rotating perforated drum and an elastic presser belt, which encompasses the perforated drum over part of its circumference and is pressed against the circumferential surface by a presser roller, in which apparatus belt pressers for supporting the presser belt in the region of its marginal zones are arranged upstream of the presser roller. These belt pressers are in the shape of skids or runners and adapted to pivot freely about an axis fixed with regard to the frame of the apparatus in the proximity of the presser roller. This axis carries a blocking roller which engages the presser belt as do the belt pressers. Although such structure helps to essentially prevent the leakage flow which is a disadvantage of other known devices of similar type, this structure shows other problems. For example, when large pieces of the material to be processed are supplied in the central area of the presser belt, this will be deformed to an extent that it may slide off from the belt pressers, which immediately leads to the destruction of the presser belt and forms a serious danger for the apparatus as a whole. Moreover, the sliding friction between the support surfaces of the belt pressers and the presser belt lead to a stressing of these components even in normal performance, which will lead to an early destruction of the presser belt and the belt pressers, which destruction is further increased by the thermal influence associated with said friction.
Furthermore, from German Patent 285 594 there can be taken a roller presser for gaining oleo and stearin from molten tallow. In this presser apparatus there is used a rotating, permeable presser cloth which is supported by a series of recessed rollers which are mounted resiliently. A steel belt is arranged to oppose said presser cloth, which steel belt runs over a series of fixedly mounted rollers. The degree of recessing is reduced from one roller to the other up to a cylindrical shape of the last roller. Such a structure, however, is completely unappropriate for the present case of application in separating flowable and non-flowable constituents mixed together in a material to be treated.